Sunday, February 28, 2010

One of the side effects of having a husband that regularly works overnight is being alone in bed at night. Some evenings, I miss my Babe and can't wait until he's home. I miss his warmness and being able to cuddle up to him. What I DON'T miss is Rich pushing his covers on top of me (he's always hot when he sleeps, I'm always cold - isn't that always the way?), him taking up most of the bed, and the snoring...Lordy, the snoring. When Rich is working, I take full advantage of having our bed to myself by sleeping on an angle with the heat cranked up. Having Luke sleep through the night in his crib is still a work in progress, so any night when Rich works and it's just me, and not me and Luke in bed, is a rare night.

Last Thursday, we got slammed with snow. Rich worked all night (lots of car accidents and downed power lines for FDNY to deal with in a major snowstorm) and Luke was asleep in his crib after a full, fun day. I headed for my empty bed, assuming I would be the only one in it. Kyle, our dog, faithfully followed me upstairs and settled down on his bed in our room. After about a minute of total and complete peace, Kyle got up and began pacing. This would normally make me nervous, especially when Rich isn't home, but I knew what the problem was. Kyle, in all of his pit bull glory...is afraid of wind. Seriously. The blowing of the wind freaks him out. He panics, and I imagine that he thinks the wind is out to get him. He will pace around our bed and then lay down on the hardwood floor next to Rich. It would almost be comical if it wasn't so pathetic.

So Thursday night was a tad windy. As in, 50 mile-per-hour winds blowing the snow around. Kyle was out of his mind with concern. His problem was now my problem, since he was making me very aware of his fear with his non-stop pacing. Kyle must have sensed my willingness to ignore him, because he then put his front paws up on the bed, very close to my head, and began to shake violently. Did I mention Kyle is 80 pounds? Yep, 80 pounds of dog shivering in fear, inches from my head. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't ignore that. Pushing him off the bed did nothing as he would just prop his paws back up and shake again. It was mucho dramatico, but I knew he was actually afraid, and I did what I had to do to get some sleep. I lifted his back paws up and hoisted my 80 lb.-pussycat-in-a-pitbull-body onto my bed. Kyle used to sleep on our bed before Luke came along, but has rarely been on it in the past three years. I think the combination of the thrill of being up on the bed again and the knowledge that he was next to his Mommy finally calmed him down, and the shivering and frantic panting eventually stopped...although the wind certainly didn't. Kyle cozied up next to me and we finally fell asleep. My spacious bed was suddenly filled with a big ol' hairy, frightened dog. My chance to have the bed to myself was over, at least until Richie's next overnight. But I didn't mind too much. Kyle's snoring reminded me of Rich. And Kyle IS my first baby. So it was almost like having Rich and Luke in bed with me. While I may look forward to my nights alone in bed, I'm happiest when we are all together.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The title of this post instantly brings to mind 2 thoughts:(1) Melanie Griffith on the SI Ferry, headed into NYC and(2) umm...shall we delicately say...a lady of the night? Are prostitutes still called that?ANYway, I briefly was a Working Girl a few weeks ago, and I was neither Melanie Griffith nor a "professional" - though now that I think about it she did look pretty whorish in the scenes when she wasn't wearing white sneakers with giant-shouldered business suits. Hmm. I digress, let's get back on track here.What I mean is, this week I got a chance to do something fun and different and get paid...again, not in THAT way. Ahem. Minds out of the gutter, people!This week, I was given the chance to step out of my SAHM role and work outside my home. I am being very specific here because I want to make it very clear that being home with a 2 year old IS work, ALL THE TIME. However, this week I got to leave my sweats at home, slap on some make-up, and head into the Big Apple. Oh, one more thing - the make-up part? I actually bought new mascara for this week, since I hadn't used my old one in a month (why would I?) & I was betting it was pretty gross inside that tube. So, hello - not only did I wear mascara, but I actually bought a new one. Win-win for me! That is what brings me excitement these days. So you're probably getting a better handle on how thrilled I was to be out and about 3 nights in a row this week, in the greatest city evah!The first 2 nights I participated in a workshop sort-of program with 11 other women. We eventually found out that it was sponsored by L'Oreal. What I got paid to do was sit with other chicks and talk about skincare, make-up and haircare. We also spoke about the term "beauty" and what it means. We talked about why we buy what we buy, and we analyzed magazine ads and TV commercials and discussed what grabs us and what bothers us about them. It was a long project - 6 hours total (3 hours, 2 nights in a row) and what we spoke of was really eye-opening to all. I see the ads and commercials, but I never really thought about how they affect what I buy, and how much is soaking in. And the airbrushing - Dear God, the airbrushing that goes into these ads! Most of them might as well be showing mannequins wearing make-up, that's how fake many models look. And us real women notice that, not-so-slick Marketing Peeps. FYI.It was a funky mix of women, some were fellow Stay at Home Moms, some were true Career Women, and the rest a mix of what's in between. We had no problem stating our opinion, and we had a great time interacting. We all got along so well that the moderator put together an online group for us as a way to stay in touch, which was way cool of him. We walked away from this workshop with the opinion that those who market skincare, make-up and haircare still have alot to learn in terms of what us real-life gals want to look like. I was happy to be a part of spreading that awareness. I was also happy to make $350 for hanging out with some terrific women and talking - Holla! The 3rd night of my working week, I worked with a dear friend of ours that owns a catering business. I helped out at a cocktail party by passing around the yummies. It was fun to be in a party atmosphere - I haven't been to a cocktail party in ages! The party people were always happy to see me heading towards them with a tray of deliciousness, and I didn't even mind the clean-up. I feel like I'm forever cleaning up, and this time I was getting paid to do it. I know I'm "paid" at home with my family's love, and Rich takes care of us financially, but I was happy to go home that night with some good ol' cash!So, I was a Working Girl, again. Temporarily. It was fun. I was happy for the change of pace. But I missed this face too much, even in those brief hours, to think I am ready to give up this SAHM gig I got going on right now:

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Soooo....it's been awhile since I've blogged. I think of blogging often, but somehow get around to doing it less than I want to. The December holiday craziness didn't help AT ALL, and thankfully that is over for another year. As things were settling down, my Mac decided I wasn't going to blog for a little while longer, and followed through on that decision by blowing itself up. On New Year's Eve, this little bitch o' mine sent me 2 giant middle fingers and closed up shop. I know why, too.You see, I pushed my Mac too far this past December. I tried to do as much of the holiday stuff as I could online. I had anywhere from 2-10 windows open at all times, comparing gifts, prices, etc. My poor Mac was pushed to its limit, and gave me all it had, but then gave up the fight. I blame myself.

My Mac was simply showing me who's boss. That I may be the one who pushes the buttons, both literally and figuratively, but the Mac, the Mac is truly in charge around here.

I've learned the lesson, my dear Mac - and yes, have now started sweet-talking it - anything to keep it running smoothly. Momma hears ya.

But this lesson didn't come cheap, financially or mentally. After my husband heroically restored the hard drive (I have no clue how, I just thank God and the dude at Best Buy that worked him through it), we found that we lost about 2 months of information. Some fantastic internet buddies - especially Adam of www.dadarocks.com - gave me information on trying to restore what we lost, so we'll try those recommendations. The thought of not recovering lost photos of a friend's wedding, Luke's first airplane ride, his first trip to Florida and Halloween (of course this is the only year I didn't have professional shots done, so I have very few photos of my little Horsie) breaks my heart. And makes me pissed off that I didn't do more to preserve them. We're addressing that now, by backing up more on the external hard drive and burning CDs of photos, but the damage is done.

And the Mac? Well, this lil darlin' of mine gets shut down for its beauty sleep every night. I don't push it to work too hard for too long anymore, and I make more effort to preserve what is precious. Hmm...a full night's sleep, not being overworked, and taking care of what is loved? Turns out, what is important for my Mac is important to me too. Speaking of what's important to me...